A synchronous optical network (SONET) provides the flexibility needed to transport digital signals with different capacities in a telecommunications network. A SONET network also provides a standard from which different manufacturers can base the design of their equipment. Thus, a SONET optical interface standard allows the interworking of transmission products from multiple vendors, as it defines the physical interface, the optical line rates known as optical carrier (OC) signals, frame format and the OAM&P (operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning) protocol. In order to develop a standards compliant operations system (OS) to manage a SONET network, a management information model based upon well known international telecommunications standards must be developed so that the network may be managed in a standards-based environment. However, at the present time there are limited standards-based interfaces, such as Q3 interfaces, to the vendor network elements (NEs). Accordingly, some "bridge-the-gap" solution has to be found to enable the newly developed OS to utilize existing communications language whose operating protocol is different from that of the OS.